The shocking events in Paris on 13 November have led to the postponement of the launch of the Belgium and Luxembourg Michelin guide for 2016 due tomorrow. We will keep you updated when the results are announced. Last week, Gault Millau announced the results for Belgium and Sang-Hoon Degeimbre of L'Air du Temps was awarded chef of the year for 2016. If you have missed the news, we have also written about the latest case of food fraud, this time linked to the fraudulent sale of extra virgin olive oil that is anything but. Virgilio Martinez, chef of Peruvian restaurant Central believes that the potato is not a humble ingredient. He says that while it is said that there are over 3,000 varieties in Peru, he has seen at least 400. He and his team employ more than 50 techniques to prepare potatoes. Read about it here. We have come across this video of Gordon Ramsay refusing a dish he was served at a restaurant. We would have done the same. Check out why here. Fine Food Dude who writes on … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #55
This week's main news in the restaurant world was the ease with which René Redzepi of Noma Restaurant sold out all covers of a 10 week pop-up in Australia in less than two minutes. If you've missed the news, you may want to read about it here. Foodiva has an interview with chef Yannick Alleno. The French chef explains the reason why he never cooks anything above 88C. He says that once you go above this temperature you have a huge deterioration in flavour. Even his sauces are never cooked higher than this temperature. Here is a good list of 10 food market stalls from around the world. Former newspaper editor Tony Gallagher went to work in his favourite restaurant Moro, in London, after he was sacked. Here he writes about his experience in a restaurant kitchen. It is a very interesting perspective. We've written before about the 50 World's Best Restaurants. The New Yorker has a great article about the history of the list and how what started off as a one-off has become one of the … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #54
Burnt is the name of a film that is set to be released next month. It tells the story of a chef who moves to London in his bid to win three Michelin stars. A reader has sent us the following interview with chef Marcus Wareing about his role as consultant chef for the film. It is a very interesting read not only about the film but also about Wareing's involvement and what he thinks the impact of the film will have on the industry. Wareing said that while the movie is not for the industry and is aimed at theatre-goers and for people to watch at home, it is still likely to attract people to the industry. "It is purely entertainment, but it will entice people to come and look at the industry and think: Yeah, that’s pretty rock and roll,” he says. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pCqItydBuw One sixth of a supermarket ready-made meal may contain sugar according to research carried out by The Telegraph. The British newspaper found that a crispy sweet and sour chicken weighing a total of 400 … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #53
Novak Djokovic is a high tennis performer. His 10 grand slam career wins put him equal seventh in the all-time list but he is unlikely to stop here given he is at his peak at the age of 28. He clearly has the two contemporary players Rafael Nadal (14) and record-holder Roger Federer (17) in sight. But why are we mentioning this on a weekly round-up related to food and wine? In an interview (Lunch with FT), Djokovic spoke about how when he was younger he used to be affected by sudden medical emergencies which occasionally forced him to pull out of games altogether. He discovered the problem was related to the food he was eating. "I had thought I was eating healthily. I didn’t eat junk food, I wasn’t drinking Coca-Cola, no alcohol...I thought about it and realised I had eaten [gluten] every single day. It is in our culture, that we eat bread with everything. So I had over-consumed it a lot...Nowadays, about 50 per cent of what I eat is raw." Is 'food porn' making us fat? That is … [Read more...]
A perfect day in Parma
Parma is an elegant city and a must for any foodie traveller who happens to be in this area of Italy. It is maybe best known for Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese but it should not be discarded as a destination in its own right. Sometimes, the city is overlooked because visitors prefer to head to the neighbouring towns of Bologna, Mantova or Modena. But you should not underestimate this city and what it has to offer. It is a perfect city to visit on a day trip whether you are in Liguria or visiting the Tuscan/Emilian Apennines and is maybe less touristy than other more popular Italian cities. There is no question about the importance Prosciutto has in this region. With its distinct Prosciutto di Parma mark, the city and its inhabitants are incredibly proud of this ham. When we visited, there was a festival of prosciutto and many shop windows, including a shop selling watches, made space for a poster to promote the festival. On the main square in front of the … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #52
This was the week in which Massimo Bottura, Italy's most famous chef, received a perfect score in the Italian influential guide L'Espresso. If you've missed the article, you can read about it here. It is also the week in which the World's top 50 bars have been named. Here is the list. Which ones have you been to? Artesian in London tops the list. If there is one restaurant critic I really follow it is Nick Lander. So if you are heading near Oxford, UK anytime soon, then this is the article you should consult or save for a future visit. In our recent trips to Emilia in Italia we have discovered the 'real' Lambrusco which is completely different to industrial Lambrusco that is exported and which has such a bad reputation. Here is an interesting article about how to pair it with five of the most traditional dishes from the region. In this article, you can read about 4 outrageously expensive dinners from the past. We have often heard about soft-drinks and the link to obesity, and … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #51
Corey Lee is considered to be one of the best chefs in the world. The three Michelin star chef of Benu is opening a new restaurant at the San Francisco Museum of Modern art, but none of his dishes will be his own. "I want to do something that represents what a museum does." He says he is thinking of it as a food exhibition. So what's different? He will have dishes that he sourced from chefs he admires and copied their dishes precisely. By asking 80 chefs to submit recipes from their own repertoires, Lee aims to assemble far-flung culinary treasures in one place. Read about his new restaurant here. Here is a very interesting article about cheeses like the Roquefort blue cheese and Camembert or Brie, and how mold has helped the cheese from spoiling by defending it from contaminating stains of fungi and bacteria. What does it mean to be a waiter for a day? And particularly when you offer to be a waiter at the World's number 2 restaurant Osteria Francescana. Journalist Gabriele Zanatta … [Read more...]
Houston, we have a problem: The Maltese are the fattest in Europe and something needs to be done about it
"Houston. We have a problem." It is not every day that my country makes it to the international headlines given it's one of the smallest countries in the world. But recently it has done so for all the wrong reasons and not for something I am proud of. According to the 2015 European health report published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Maltese have tipped the scales as the fattest population in the European Union. 68.5 per cent of men and 59.6% of women over the age of 18 were found to be overweight by the WHO study. You might ask why this should be of any concern to Food and Wine Gazette. Alas it does because obesity is one of society's greatest problems and has implications way beyond the food world. But the problem also lies in lack of education, awareness and a certain naivety which the food industry banks on to profit from the masses. We recently read that the Maltese government had announced measures to disallow tuck shops at school from selling soft-drinks. … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #50
Here is our weekly round-up a day earlier than usual as we are heading to Chef Sache 2015 tomorrow to watch Massimo Bottura, Jock Zonfrillo and Mitsuharu Tsumara in action among others. We will bring you news on that next week so please do come back. In the meantime, here are some articles we found interesting this week. Have you ever wondered how hard it is for chefs and people in the hospitality business. They have to work long hours and also work when most people are not working, for example on weekends or evenings. A Michelin star chef in the UK, James Close, has decided to scrap the weekday lunch service in a bid to improve staff hours and encourage creativity. This follows news from Sat Bains earlier this year when he announced his Nottingham restaurant was switching to a four day week. Let's keep watch of this trend. Even Mikael Jonsson of Hedone recently announced he will be opening for just six sittings every week to improve the well-being of his staff. Times are changing … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #49
This has been the week of major announcements. We've written about the announcement by René Redzepi of Noma that he will be closing the restaurant for good in December 2016. It was also the week in which Massimo Bottura cooked dinner for French president Francois Hollande amid scepticism from the latter on whether Italians could match the class of the top French chefs. You can read all about these on previous articles on Food and Wine Gazette. Around the web, we've come across a number of interesting articles which we are sure you will enjoy. Allan Jenkins has a superb article about Enrique Olvera, Mexico's leading chef. He speaks about the difficulty to find the best corn, chillies and meat in Mexico with his ultimate aim of producing the country's finest tacos. The chef is constantly on the lookout to find the best produce available and he has a full time person finding stuff for him so that he can ge this hands on the best corn, chillies and even a fish seller. It is hard, he … [Read more...]